


The Rap Godfather

by ar_tea_st



Category: Mamamoo, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Anger Management, F/M, Feminist Themes, Humor, I'm Jungkook biased so... think about it, Idol Jeon Jungkook, Idol Kim Seokjin | Jin, Keep in mind it's still a mafia au!! although I tried to keep it as chill as possible, M/M, Mafia Boss Min Yoongi, Mafia boss Jung Hoseok, Mentions/Vague Descriptions of Violence, Most ships are not explicitly mentioned so if you feel like something is going on.. yes it is, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Plot Twists, Police Officer Kim Namjoon | RM, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Yoongi and Hoseok are also rappers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 12,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26323885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ar_tea_st/pseuds/ar_tea_st
Summary: While the mafia bosses are playing the guess who of their closest allies backstabs them next, there's someone these powerful men have been underestimating all along.
Relationships: Ahn Hyejin | Hwasa/Min Yoongi | Suga, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Min Yoongi | Suga, Kim Taehyung | V/Min Yoongi | Suga
Kudos: 8





	1. You're speaking to her right now.

**Author's Note:**

> I made a "trailer" for this fic: https://youtu.be/wtw-vzvZCxo . It should give you the general idea of what the story is like, I hope you have a fun time watching it. Watch till the end ;)

_"Make them break their hands and feet,_  
_Make them do a circus."_  
— Rap Monster

The whole club was drooling over her.

It's the same thing every week, four times a week, for over five years now. She paid no attention to vulgar remarks from the audience. She ignored the dozens of pairs of thirsting eyes.

One pair of eyes, though, at some point caught her attention.

He was just a boy, although an extraordinarily handsome one, who obviously didn't want to be seen in such a place. He looked like a typical first-timer, but not to her. She knew this look — the boy was looking for something else.

He unintentionally looked her over as she approached him. She hardly noticed.

"What do you want, boy?"

"Excuse me, miss, I need to speak to someone who's in charge—"

"You're speaking to her right now."

"I- I'm interested in a different kind of services. It's- I was told-"

"Follow me," she cut him off.

As she expected, the boy was here to ask for a favor.

...About half an hour later, she made a phone call.

"Yes?" the familiar deep, rasping voice answered the phone.

"I got something interesting for you, dear."

"What is it?" She could hear his satisfied smile over the phone.

"Something dirty that can play out in our favor," she paused. "Your favorite type of things."

He let a second of telling silence between them linger a little before replying.

"You know me dangerously too well," he purred.

"I know I do. See you in an hour."


	2. Cursed to be the second

First thing in the morning, Kim Seokjin reached for his phone to check the latest headlines.

_The sensual title track of Jeon Jungkook's new chart-topping album awarded Song of the Year at GRAMMYs_

_  
Global sensation and Korean national treasure Jeon Jungkook conquers the hearts of fans with another passionate ballad_

_  
Jeon Jungkook titled The Face of South Korea for the fourth year in a row_

_  
South Korean Statistics Center: 67% of South Korean children and teenagers aged 7-18 consider Jeon Jungkook their hero_

_  
Singer and songwriter Jeon Jungkook is to receive the title of Honorable Citizen of South Korea_

Seokjin's managers were right to persuade him to delay the release of his new album. No one in South Korea released their music when Jeon Jungkook, the favorite artist of the nation, did. No one in the industry can stand a chance, not even the insanely famous rappers, whose lyrics are way too provocative for a Korean ear, and whose fan base is, therefore, mostly foreign.

The secret of Jungkook's overwhelming success is his perfection: stunning visuals, striking musical talent, apparent dedication to his art, warm-hearted character, and seamless reputation — all in one. He is adored internationally and praised nationally because he is _flawless_.

Seokjin's singing career was a success, but he was never good enough to beat Jungkook. He felt cursed to always be the second one in the charts. 

Gradually, Seokjin became obsessed with finding the flaw that could destroy Jeon Jungkook. Money was never a problem for him; the only obstacle was reputation. Seokjin had to act carefully, minimizing the risks of him being caught in a scheme.

This morning, he received a phone call from an unknown number.

"We have what you want. You can have it in four days for a special price."

"How much?"

"Seven hundred thousand USD. Bank account number will be sent to you in a minute. You have ten minutes to decide."

The man hung up.


	3. There's been a significant development in our... relationship.

"I've served Hope for over 7 years now, and, I believe, as one of your best men, I deserve to voice my opinion."

Jimin has always thought Hope to be the least suitable name for a mafia clan. Especially, for one led by someone like Jung Hoseok — _the man who leaves no hope_.

"Which of the tasks prescribed to you you find troubling?" Hoseok asked, unconcerned, positioned comfortably in a velvet armchair, tracing the lid of his ruby ring.

"I've done things in my, er... career that some of your most experienced men considered impossible. I think it's fair to say that I have some expertise in the field. Taking that into account, I suggest..." Jimin struggled to find the right language to disagree with his don's order. "The plan I'm given should be— adjusted."

"What makes you think so?" Hoseok sounded amused, his face, however, gaining a barely noticeable shade of annoyance.

"I don't think you _understand_. No one has _ever_ bribed officer Kim Namjoon," Jimin responded. "We should at least—"

"We're not savages, like the other smaller clans," Hoseok cut him off. "The man wouldn't be in charge of Gangnam district if he wasn't clever. When you meet him, he'll realize he'd be better off with us, rather than against us."

"The Sugar must be after him already," Jimin blurted out. "There's no way they don't know—"

"No need to worry about that," the man pronounced meaningfully.

Jimin hesitated.

"I don't mean to ask too much, but I need to be aware of—"

"You're curious whether I got something on Min Yoongi, aren't you?" Hoseok smiled bleakly. "The answer is, no. Yet, there's been a significant development in our... relationship."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We've reached an understanding. From now on, we don't mess with them, they don't mess with us."

"W-What?" Jimin raised his eyebrows. "So we're now—at peace with Sugar? What about the districts they took? Our nightclubs in Itaewon? Our—"

"We underestimated them," Hoseok answered promptly. "The time has come to admit it, on our terms, while the situation is still under our control."

"So what now?" Park couldn't conceal bitterness in his tone. "Hope is the _second_ most powerful?"

"I'd say we're about the same," Hoseok replied serenely. "Still the first, if you take decades of my father's and his predecessors' experience into account."

There was something else behind the words he said.

"Are you setting up—something?"

"Would I be discussing that with you, if I was, Park Jimin?"

Jimin took the hint.

"Is there anything left unclear for you regarding your job?"

_Bribe the policeman, get into the boy's dressing room, steal the memory card, deliver it to the client._

Just as Jimin shook his head, someone knocked on the door.

"Mr. Jung?" proceeded the voice of Hoseok's personal assistant. "The stage will be ready in 5 minutes."

Hoseok stood up, looking himself leisurely in the mirror, the fine fabric of his stage outfit glowing in the mirror light.

"Times are changing, Jimin," the man said, as Park was about to leave. "We are changing as well, but we're stronger than ever."

Jimin left the dressing room with a sense of shame for having doubted Jung Hoseok.

The times, indeed, were changing, but it's only been playing in the mafia's favor.

In the past, clan leaders maintained power by balancing extreme violence with secrecy, which, ultimately, proved ineffective. Jung Hoseok was the first one who got rid of one of those constraints. Instead of hiding in a smoke-filled room, he became one of the most famous rappers in the world. A virtually untouchable music industry legend, he was the first clan leader ever to have his face put up on a billboard on Times Square.

He was the only one, until Min Yoongi became the second.


	4. No one has ever bribed officer Kim Namjoon.

Kim Namjoon forcefully waved his hand at an empty hand soap dispenser. The police station restroom was running out of soap once every two weeks, and Namjoon was lucky to always be there exactly when it happened.

The man turned to head to the maintenance room but stopped abruptly.

A well-built young man, a bit shorter than Namjoon, stood right in front of him.

"Excuse me, sir," he said. "I am looking for officer Kim Namjoon."

Namjoon took a moment to recollect himself. He knew who the man was and why he found him in the restroom, unarmed and vulnerable.

"I know who you are," Kim replied sternly.

"Good," Jimin smiled. "It'll be easier for both of us, then."

No one was in the restroom to hear them. Namjoon's office was right across the hallway, so the chances someone would notice them were extremely low. Everything was precisely calculated.

"Are you a Hope or a Sugar?" the officer asked, as soon as the door of his office closed behind them.

"Well, I'm not pointing a gun at you right now, so I'm obviously not a Sugar."

"You're just making threats."

"No, I'm actually here with a friendly offer, officer. Protection and regular bonuses in exchange for a favor."

_They dare bribe a policeman at a police station._

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tomorrow, your team is responsible for security at the Olympic Stadium."

"Yes," Namjoon gulped.

"This wasn't a question. We know your men will be there, and we need them to be absent at a certain time."

"What are you—"

"Don't worry, we won't hurt anyone. We only need access to Jungkook's dressing room for a brief moment."

"Impossible," Namjoon uttered. "I can't give an order to—"

"You won't have to, officer. It'll all be staged like a petty sasaeng break-in. You just need to keep the person at Jungkook's door busy."

"How are you going to get inside if—"

"We will," Jimin cut him off, smiling. "And none of you will notice."

Namjoon paused for a moment.

"You know you don't have a choice," Jimin continued. "You may not have a family now, but, one day, you will. Wouldn't you rather have them safe? Hope protects their friends well."

_So now he_ is _making threats._

"I know I'm not the first one to speak to you, officer," he looked out the window, lowering his voice. "I'm aware of your past attempts to bust the mafia. Please, don't fool yourself into thinking you can trick us. If something goes not as smoothly tomorrow, someone will get hurt."

Jimin wasn't naive to believe the cop swallowed his pride and became loyal to Hope. The officer was notorious for trying to infiltrate into clans to leak information. The stubborn undercover policeman, an orphan with no social life, contributed substantially to the fall of Seagull, Hope's once archrival clan. Perhaps, that's why Hoseok wanted to keep the man alive, seeing him as a handy ally.

Obviously, Namjoon wants to make things difficult for Hope, but it's not something to be worried about tomorrow, when the lives of thousands of innocent spectators at the stadium will be at risk.


	5. Curiosity

When Jimin exited the police station, he knew he was being watched. Park wouldn't pay any attention to that, if not for the fact that the man watching him wore a red coat and circled the streets neighboring the police station out in the open.

After two minutes of walking the nearest couple of blocks, Jimin found him. The man sat crossed-legged at a table on a cafe terrace, with a flowered cup of tea in his hand. Jimin recognized him immediately, even though he had seen him before only once.

The night he first saw Kim Taehyung, four months ago, Hope won back the liquor factory in North Seoul. Powers were unequal, the situation was getting out of hand — in Hope's favor. They finally had an opportunity to unleash their rage and revenge their losses.

Jimin was showing his men where to carry the dead bodies, when Kim Taehyung appeared out of nowhere. He walked the blood-stained pavement in an absurdly spotless beige suit, then jumped fluidly into a moving car before Jimin could get his gun out.

That night was the last time Hope outdid Sugar. The latter returned the damages they suffered at the liquor factory tenfold, in unimaginably violent ways.

Jimin hurried his step, heading towards the terrace. The two men's eyes met. Instead of showing a natural bit of fear or at least some concern at an aggressively-looking man fastly approaching him, Taehyung smiled invitingly.

It was rumored that he was the right hand of Min Yoongi himself, but Jimin never believed that. He could be a psycho killer, but, most likely, he was just a hooker.

_He looks like someone who would take that as a compliment._

"What are you doing here?" Jimin asked as soon as he reached the table.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, as if offended by his curtness.

_"What the fuck are you doing here?"_ Jimin repeated the question, already starting to lose his temper at the man faking innocence so blatantly.

"Do I have to have something to do?" he tilted his head to the side lazily.

"You better, or I'll assume you're standing in my way."

"What if I am?" Taehyung put the teacup down and leaned back. "You gonna kill me?"

"Unless I'm satisfied with your reasons for being here, I will."

Taehyung seemed completely unimpressed by Jimin's threats.

"I don't think you would, Jiminie, even if you had the gut," he said teasingly.

Nothing angered Jimin as much as not being taken seriously.

" _You think the boys guarding you scare me?_ "

"No," Taehyung smiled, amused, before taking a sip of his tea. "I know the _man_ guarding me scares you."

He managed to make Jimin uncomfortable.

"You think too much of you and your boss," he responded. "Or... whatever he is to you."

Taehyung licked his lips after taking another sip.

"I'll tell you my reason for being here, Park Jimin," he said after a short pause. "It's curiosity."

_He is messing with my brain._

"You know you're not supposed to be here, right?"

"Yes," he replied meaningfully.

Jimin paused. Could Taehyung really be here without his higher-ups knowing? Maybe he plotted a trap, going against the peace their clan leaders made? Park wasn't too happy about the decision to make peace either, but he would never dare confronting his don's orders so bluntly.

"Does he—"

"Of course, he knows," Taehyung answered promptly. "Yoongi has ears everywhere," he beamed. "Anyways, I'm glad we've finally met. I like having powerful enemies, but it's nice to have a powerful friend too."


	6. You think you're the first backstabber in the mafia?

The plan for breaking into Jungkook's dressing room was plain as day. Stadium security concentrated all their attention on the doors, while neglecting other, more creative entrances. The stage's flooring was a little adjusted in the set-up process, giving Jimin direct access to the dressing room.

The trickiest part was to escape the crowd of fans and get behind the stage unnoticeable. Jungkook singing served as a good distraction for spectators; the guards were easy to avoid anyway.

Fortunately, Jeon Jungkook was an extremely orderly person. Jimin quickly scanned the neat room for peculiar objects; it took him less than a minute to find an unusually crude gold necklace with a bird-shaped pendant in the upper desk drawer. Jimin found a barely noticeable crevice on the bird's trunk.

A tiny piece of plastic was inside the pendant.

In a moment, Jimin would leave the dressing room the same way he entered it, did he not sense someone behind him. When he turned around, he faced a tall man standing near the moved floor tile.

For the first time in Jimin's career, someone approached him without being noticed.

"I'm glad he sent _you_ to do this, Jimin," Kim Taehyung said softly. "We understand each other."

"What are you— Get _out_ of here," Jimin stepped forward. "I shouldn't kill you, but—"

"Give me the memory card."

_"What?"_

"It's much more valuable than your boss thinks it is," he answered, looking annoyingly calm.

"And that's why I should give it to you?"

"You can't deliver it to a random person," Taehyung explained. "We'll help everyone if we pretend I took the memory card from you by force. It's not safe—"

"Min Yoongi told you to do this?"

"No," he breathed.

Their eyes met.

Jimin wasn't buying it.

Next thing he knew, Taehyung jumped forward, locking Jimin's arms behind his back. Having disorientated him for a moment, he took the memory card from him. When Jimin got out of his grip, he had a gun pointing at him.

Jimin had to admit Taehyung was the most agile human being he has ever seen.

"We have to act together," Taehyung said.

The moment he said it, the door opened and shut abruptly. A young woman in full make-up and costume entered the dressing room.

Jimin thought she was just a random backup dancer, probably getting in here by accident or to get to Jungkook's personal belongings for her own sick reasons, until she took a gun out, pointing it at Taehyung's head.

"You think you're the first backstabber in the mafia?" she roared at Taehyung. "Put it down, dear, or you'll make the third one I killed personally."

"Do you know what's on this memory card?" he groaned.

"Dirt on the precious angel boy I don't care about."

"I saw a man giving his life to protect what's on this card, Hwasa," he said through his teeth.

"I don't care what you saw. Give it back to him," she nodded at Jimin. " _Now._ "

Taehyung didn't move a muscle. Next moment, Hwasa shot his arm.

The man bellowed in pain. As his grip loosened, Jimin motioned to get the tiny piece of plastic from Kim's hand. Taehyung punched him brutally with his other hand, which Jimin was completely unprepared for. He fell on his knees, but continued making his way towards the hole in the floor, the memory card still in his hand. Just as Taehyung pointed his gun at escaping Jimin, Hwasa jumped at him from the back, dropping Taehyung on the floor. The man groaned, either in pain or in desperation, when he saw Jimin disappear under the moved floor tile.

The gun had the silencer on, and the concert music was blasting loud, but the chances of them getting caught were increasing every second, especially after a loud thud of two bodies falling on the ground. If someone sees them, it will be impossible to avoid massacre.

Hwasa, who was now sitting on the back of half-conscious Taehyung, held his head firmly in her hands.

"Listen to me closely, boy. Don't mess with Yoongi. Don't _ever_ mess with me."

He gasped for air, as if about to scream, but Hwasa put her hand over his mouth.

"You think you know something, but you know _nothing_ ," she whispered directly into his ear. "We'll pretend this didn't happen. Get up."

In a few minutes, the dressing room was empty.


	7. The Notorious Min Yoongi

Sugar found Hwasa when she was 17, homeless, defenseless, with the last remaining member of her family dead. She was no different from hundreds of other girls "recruited" by the mafia clans in Seoul.

Hwasa quickly learned that the girls who could act as if their lives were still in their hands worked at more expensive clubs, had more bearable schedules and clientele. Gradually, she mastered the art of concealing how broken she was. In a year, Hwasa worked at one of the top-tier Sugar night clubs and was one of its most popular girls.

Most of Hwasa's clients were involved in the mafia. Over time, she learned to spot interesting information in conversations happening in the building. The club was clearly an important establishment for the Sugar clan. It has become even more obvious when, one day, they were notified that Min Yoongi himself would visit.

... _Power_ was the first word on Hwasa's mind when she saw the dark-haired man with a grim expression on his face. The man wouldn't be a don of a mafia clan if he wasn't able to leave a strong first impression. Although six well-dressed men entered the club at once, Hwasa knew exactly who among them was the notorious Min Yoongi. His effortless movements, steady walk, the way everyone around him treated him _reeked_ of power.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the next half an hour: the men sat at a remote table, smoked some cigars, and talked. Hwasa was just passing by, when she noticed a previous client of hers at the table next to them. She tensed up at a sudden realization.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" Hwasa approached the table occupied by the mafia bosses, even though all the girls were ordered not to do that until asked.

The men exchanged uncertain looks. This wasn't the usual reaction she'd get. A couple of them were obviously annoyed by her appearance.

Hwasa didn't care about their reaction, though. The one whose reaction mattered now sat in the center, behind the table. He was curious.

In an instant, she stepped on the table, making her way to the clan leader. The other men jumped at their feet, some were about to get their guns out, but Min Yoongi only laughed and waited for Hwasa to slowly get on him.

He gestured the men at the table to calm down.

"Hold on to that thought, Kai," he said, his attention fixed on the woman sitting on his lap. "I have a weakness for brave-"

"The man at the table next to you is a Hope rat," Hwasa whispered into his ear playfully, to make it seem like dirty nothings to the others watching them. "He also mentioned a man named Kai over a phone call. This is a trap."

She looked him in the eye for a moment to see if he realized what she just said. The man did, so she proceeded to kiss him passionately. Yoongi quickly guessed what she was doing. He was a good kisser, and he knew how to make the other men at the table feel uncomfortable.

"Excuse us," he breathed in a moment, when it looked like they were about to go at it right at the table. "Let's take a break, gentlemen."

As soon as they got into one of the club's private rooms, Yoongi got his phone out.

"I need fifty men at the club door in five minutes," he dictated into the phone. " _Fully armed, of course, you moron._ "

He hung up.

"I knew something was off about all this," he said, half to himself, then looked back at Hwasa. "How did you know?"

"The rat's been my client several times this month," she answered simply. "He is a talkative type."

"You did a great job," Yoongi's face softened for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Hwasa."

"Stay in here, Hwasa," he said, recollecting his composure, before leaving the room.

In about 10 minutes, she started hearing gunshots. Then the girls screaming, men shouting, glass breaking. The noises didn't last for too long. After the building got quiet, Hwasa waited for another couple of minutes, when the door opened again.

She allowed herself to take a good look at Min Yoongi. The man got rid of his jacket, now wearing his white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Her eyes lingered on the wrinkled line where the shirt met his well-fitted black slacks; only then she noticed the scarlet droplets scattered here and there on the fabric.

"They almost got me, Hwasa," Min Yoongi smirked, wiping the blood off the face of his Rolex. "I should reward you for your loyalty."

"I didn't do that because of loyalty."

"Oh?" with his mouth slightly agape in surprise with Hwasa's straightforwardness, the grim man suddenly looked like a kitten. "Why did you do that, then?"

"I didn't want to be shot there," Hwasa answered, half-true.

Of course, she knew she would be in danger if a rival clan took over Sugar, but when she risked everything and stepped on that table to get to Min Yoongi, she had a stronger motivation in mind.

"You are a sharp woman," he said, eyeing her up inquisitively. "Is there anything specific you want as your reward?"

"Yes," Hwasa responded right away. "A promotion."

"You do deserve a promotion," Yoongi smiled. "From now on, you'll have special clients occasionally. You'll then tell me if you find something interesting, just like you did today."

"You'll sometimes tell me who to sleep with to get you the information you need? That's the promotion?"

"Do I hear disappointment in your voice?" Yoongi asked with a pout, in sweet mockery, while slowly getting closer to her.

The air in the room tensed up. Hwasa didn't know what to expect of him now.

"No," she answered.

"Good," Yoongi stroked her hair, looking at her closely for a few seconds. Then, without saying another word, he turned around and walked out of the room.

...Hwasa's plan was to get as close to Min Yoongi as possible, and then see her opportunities from there. In the next few months, she did exactly what was expected of her and even more. She communicated with Min Yoongi through phone calls, until he started inviting her to his place.

At some point, they began meeting almost every other day. Yoongi started giving Hwasa the most boring men, all to have her come to him afterwards, seemingly to discuss what she'd found out. Over time, they've built a strange companionship.

Yoongi never truly bothered trying to hide the fact that he liked Hwasa. It was also obviously clear to him that she wanted to use that to her advantage, but it didn't stop him from letting her into his inner circle. The careless confidence with which Yoongi treated Hwasa amazed her.

Their meetings were always very sexual, but they never had sex. Hwasa suspected he waited for her to ask for it herself. Not because of decency, but because he saw how she looked at him. Hwasa couldn't deny she unwillingly tingled with excitement when she saw Yoongi, and he seized every opportunity to catch her in the act, trembling like a teenage girl under the indifferent facade.

Hwasa was too proud, however, to admit that her ambitious and very promising plan to sell out the leader of the Sugar clan was falling apart because of her childish admiration for the man.


	8. Something is fishy

"Hello, my friend," Min Yoongi answered the phone light-heartedly. "You've finally decided to talk about the greatest collab of the century?"

"You know it will never happen," Jung Hoseok responded coldly.

"Such a loss for humanity."

"Do you know what exactly is on Jungkook's memory card?" Hoseok cut the small talk sharply.

"To be honest, I do wonder what that boy could be hiding. I guess we'll find out pretty soon."

"Did you try to get it for yourself?"

"It does cost a ton of money, but I don't need it. Even if I did want it, I wouldn't send Taehyung to get it."

"I've heard you two were pretty close."

"Now, though, he's my problem, not yours."

Jung Hoseok hung up. Yoongi leaned back in his chair, letting out a deep breath.

"Do you think he really is that desperate?" he asked, staring into space. It was unclear whether the question was addressed to Hwasa or Taehyung, who both were sitting at the opposite ends of the couch across from Min Yoongi.

"They wouldn't ever agree to peace if they weren't desperate," said Taehyung.

"Nah, I think he's planning something. I know a liar when I hear one," Hwasa pronounced contemptuously, staring Taehyung down.

"That's your fault I had to lie," Kim responded carelessly. "You didn't tell me a thing about Jungkook's memory card."

"You weren't supposed to know about it," Yoongi said.

"But _she_ was?"

"She was the one who came up with it, while you were being a pain in the ass."

"You expected me to observe cluelessly and do nothing?"

"That's what you'll be doing from now on, until I instruct you otherwise," Yoongi replied, his expression darkened.

"You think you can lock me down?" he scoffed.

"No," Yoongi softened up slightly. "I'm asking you to stay away as your don."

"What if I choose not to? What if I think you're making a mistake?"

"Then I won't be talking to you as your don anymore," he answered coolly. "We let Hope steal the boy's memory card, watch the whole nation find out, and wait till they tear the evil Hope clan apart, with our help. Your interference is not needed."

"How are you not seeing that something is fishy about this memory card? How can you so blindly underestimate—"

"You're the one who's underestimating Jeon Jungkook's influence," Yoongi asserted. "If his name is smeared with even a tiniest bit of dirt, our whole country's economy will be at stake. We have the major media corporations on our payroll. Instead of publishing the news, they'll call the cops."

Taehyung stood up.

"I'm not letting this happen before I see what's on that card," he said, already on his way out of the room. "Try to kill me, it's not going to stop me."

He shut the door behind him. The two people remaining in the room exchanged telling looks.

...Having finished the phone call abruptly, Jung Hoseok looked Jimin in the eye.

"He thinks we're weak," he said. "That's good."

"So what are we doing now?" Jimin was relieved to find out that the agreement with Sugar was just a strategic move.

"I knew he was setting up a trap, but I expected he'd wait longer before taking action," Hoseok was thinking out loud. "I need you to watch Kim Seokjin for a couple of weeks. Find out if he intends to do something unusual with Jungkook's information."

"Should I also see what kind of information-"

"You can, if you're curious. It's probably connected to the rumors about him sleeping with his backup dancers."

"Jungkook?" Jimin chuckled, amused by the idea of the renowned national angel boy Jeon Jungkook engaging in such inappropriate behaviors.

"I suspect Sugar wants to tie the information leak to us, but they don't know we have our people in their media. If you don't see anything suspicious about Seokjin in the next couple of weeks, we got them."


	9. I'm not like my father

Namjoon's heart sank when he was told that Jeon Jungkook asked the policeman in charge to come to his dressing room.

To tame the growing feeling of guilt, he reminded himself that letting Hope into Jungkook's dressing room was a part of a larger plan.

"Officer Kim?" Jeon Jungkook was visibly shaking with fear, but he nonetheless bowed politely when Namjoon entered the room. "I'm sorry, I- I think- I think someone has-" he put his hand over his mouth abruptly, as if he was about to throw up. "My dressing room-"

The young man hasn't yet changed his graceful all-white stage attire. It was painful to see his angelic figure shudder.

"I'll call in a doctor."

"No," Jungkook cried. "No, please, I- I need your help."

"How can I help you?" Namjoon hated having to fake ignorance. He hated having to fake disbelief when Jungkook told him someone had broken into his dressing room and stolen his memory card. When Namjoon was about to proceed to the standard investigation procedures, however, Jungkook genuinely surprised him.

"No, officer, I-" his voice cracked. "If you could please- _Please_ , make sure no one finds out-"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just-" the young man's body shivered. "If someone finds out about this memory card-" he looked on the verge of a breakdown.

"Can you tell me what's on that card, Jungkook?" Namjoon gently took his hand to try to calm him down.

"My past," Jungkook blurted out, finally tearing up. "I- I should've destroyed the last trace of it, but I kept it because it was- Because it was the last thing left from- my father."

What Jungkook said in the next couple of minutes left Namjoon breathless.

"...I'm not-" the young man wept as he finished his story. "I'm not like my father, I'm- I'm not-"

"I believe you, Jungkook," Namjoon was doing his best trying to help him come to his senses. "I believe you."

"I-" Jungkook squeezed Namjoon's hand tightly, his swollen dove-like eyes searching for support in his. "I wanted- I wanted to be a policeman when I was little."

There was something in the way Jungkook said these words that almost made Kim Namjoon's eyes teary.

"It's okay, Jungkook," he said. "We'll destroy them. Together."


	10. The damn memory card

Kim Seokjin's house was located in one of the most luxurious residential neighborhoods in Seoul. It wasn't the first time Kim Taehyung had to break into one of those fancy Gangnam mansions.

Luckily for Seokjin, he wasn't there when Taehyung walked into his living room. The house was quiet; its owner was likely sleeping, as it was only about 5 a.m. right now.

Taehyung knew the memory card was delivered to Seokjin hours ago. He must've seen what's on it already, yet there wasn't any news of anything significant happening between Hope and Sugar in the last couple of hours. Seokjin could've simply decided to wait till morning to do something with the information. Maybe Taehyung was wrong, and the memory card had nothing of importance to it. It could be, however, that on that card Seokjin found something he couldn't handle.

Taehyung found the black envelope with the memory card on the desk in Seokjin's study, beside a laptop. The seal wasn't opened.

_Why wouldn't he open it right away? Is he even home?_

Taehyung's apprehension intensified.

_It's not allowed to deliver when the client is absent._

Seokjin, if he did receive the memory card, obviously had very little idea of the mafia world, as the envelope was left in plain sight, and the laptop didn't even have a set password.

_Unless someone is deliberately making it easy for me._

It took a few clicks to open the files, but more than 10 minutes to understand the substance of those files.

At first, Taehyung denied what he saw. His heart pounded.

Slowly, he began realizing what he was looking at.

At some point, he found himself staring at the monitor, rewatching the same video over and over.

It was a clip of a freestyle rap battle in an infamous Seoul concert venue, known for attracting the best—which often meant the most scandalous—underground rappers in whole Asia. This was the place where Jung Hoseok and, later, Min Yoongi gave their first performances.

The clip was taken more than a decade ago; it featured two rappers battling, one of whom was clearly winning. The better one was a strikingly handsome young man, his delicate facial features harshly contrasting with the brutality of his verses. He was merciless, shocking, and glorious — the crowd was going wild for him, not even minding the presence of the pity he made of his opponent.

Had Taehyung clicked on this video before seeing the rest of the memory card's contents, he would still know who the man was right away, even though he had never seen his face before.

_"You know when you see him," they said._

Indeed, the very look of those dove-like eyes filling with untamed fury was enough to instill fear in any living soul.

The man in the video was once the most powerful man in the whole South Korea and, possibly, beyond — the leader of the legendary Seagull clan. He was known as Seagull, his true name and identity kept secret even for most of the high-up members of the clan.

Decades after the man's death and the clan's collapse, seeing an actual footage of Seagull with your own eyes was still shocking. The proof of the fact that Seagull clan leader was an underground rapper was already more than enough to make this memory card a threat to the contemporary South Korean mafia world, given that its two most influential clan leaders were also successful rappers.

Unfortunately, the memory card also contained another, much more massive threat for Seoul mafia.

The threat's name was Jeon Jungkook. The boy turned out to be the heir to the most powerful mafia clan in Korean history.

Taehyung stood up, taking a deep breath while dialing the familiar number hurriedly. The man couldn't remember another time in his life when he lost his nerve like he did now.

"We're fucked," Taehyung blurted as soon as Yoongi picked up. "You especially, Min Yoongi, because you're so fucking clueless."

"This is likely the last phone call of yours I'm answering," the man replied leisurely.

"With Seagull's son at our backs, I don't think we have much time for phone calls," he pronounced angrily, already on his way out of Seokjin's house, with the memory card in his pocket.

"What are you saying?" Yoongi chuckled.

"Seagull's son is alive."

Yoongi didn't respond right away.

"What?" he asked, in a much more concerned tone.

"Jungkook is Seagull's son. I've seen proof. _It was on the damn memory card_."

Yoongi kept silent.

"I don't want to be _a_ _pain in the ass_ , but we have to do something."

"We'll be at Hwasa's night club in 15 minutes," the man answered finally.

"Does she also have a plan for that?" Taehyung asked sardonically.

Yoongi hung up.

Park Jimin, who watched Taehyung through Kim Seokjin's windows and saw him leaving the house in a hurry, followed him.

Meanwhile, in Seoul suburbs, in his second house, Kim Seokjin received a phone call.

"It's all fine, Seokjinie, everyone left. You can come back home now."

"Everything went as planned?" Seokjin felt uneasy as he tried to sound nonchalant when something illegal was clearly involved.

"Uh-huh."

"So... everything you promised-"

"Of course. I don't need this job anymore."

The phone call ended.


	11. No gunshots

A phone call at such an early hour alerted Kim Namjoon instantly.

"Officer Kim," Jungkook's voice was impossible not to recognize immediately.

He was crying.

"Jungkook? What happened?"

"They-" he sobbed. "They want you to come-"

"Where are you?"

"I- I don't know-"

"Are they hurting you?"

"Y-Yes," he weeped. His reply was followed by an audible thud. Jungkook wailed.

"I'll find you, Jungkook. Do you hear me? You'll be safe. They'll regret-"

Jungkook hung up.

When Jimin heard police sirens he knew immediately that something was wrong. The cops wouldn't dare do anything on Sugar's territory, especially at one of their key facilities.

Unless it was Kim Namjoon who led them.

Jimin couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the policeman break the club's front door. He observed, in shock, how the rest of the armed cops entered the building after him. 

Dumbfounded, Jimin realized that no gunshots were heard minutes after the occurrence.

As soon as he came to his senses, he called Hoseok.

It turned out that Jung Hoseok didn't know anything about what was going on at Sugar's night club right now.

"What should I-"

"I need to know what's happening there," Hoseok commanded. "I don't like being left behind."

Obeying his don's order, Park Jimin came closer to the building. Even though the peace agreement between Hope and Sugar wasn't yet broken, it was still extremely unsafe for Jimin to be here by himself, especially when Kim Namjoon was somehow involved. Right now, even though Park was, arguably, the best of Hope's people, he still wouldn't mind having a dozen mediocre Hope men at his back.

Jimin was alone when he entered the night club.

No one was guarding the entrance. The hall was empty. Only when he approached the door that led to the lounge did he start hearing speaking voices. Jimin froze for a minute.

_Sometimes, speaking is worse than fighting_.

Jimin reached for his phone to text Hoseok and ask for backup. His hands were shaking.

When Jimin held his gun in his shaky left hand, while trying to type with his right, the lounge door opened.

He was surrounded. The only thing he could do was press the send button.

> _Seagull_


	12. I'm just—better.

The time came for Namjoon to act. Even though Jeon Jungkook was a global celebrity with his own extreme security measures and an additional police guard after the dressing room incident, the mafia still managed to abduct him. The only reason for that would be to kill the young man, along with the policeman who knew about his ancestry.

After battling police's laziness and legal formalities, Namjoon gathered a dozen of best people from his and nearby districts and had another two dozen on their way to the location from which Jungkoook's phone call was tracked. Namjoon was aware it was Sugar's night club.

Kim Namjoon knew he was likely to die. Maybe all the other policemen who joined him would be killed by the mafia today. Namjoon hated to admit it, but he saw benefits even in such a scenario. Today, the police wins either by force or by publicity. The public won't be able to ignore the death of a whole police unit.

Breaking the front door of one of the most important Sugar bases was the point of no return. Namjoon was ready to get shot any moment, but nothing happened as he entered the club.

Namjoon and his team searched the club's halls. No one seemed to be there. Eventually, they walked into a spacious lounge, where they froze, astonished.

The room was dark, the only light in it being the stage light, illuminating Jungkook's ghastly figure. He was tied up to a chair in the centre of the stage, blindfolded.

_Whoever came up with this had a sick sense of humor._

Namjoon knew the Sugar hid in the darkness. There could be hundreds of them: near the stage, at the tables, at the bar, on the balcony, in the rear halls.

Suddenly, a clicking sound echoed in silence. It was the sound of someone walking in heels.

A strikingly attractive woman Namjoon has seen before walked on the stage, slowly approaching Jungkook's chair. When she finally reached him, she looked up, eyeing the group of policemen boldly, then rested her hands on the young man's shoulders.

Jungkook gasped.

Namjoon would've paid more attention to how Jungkook didn't look beaten up or wasn't repelled by the clan woman's touch, if he wasn't so engrossed in the way that woman projected spiteful confidence in front of a dozen armed cops, as if she feared nothing whatsoever.

Namjoon cleared his throat.

"Let him go," he said. "Let him go peacefully and the situation won't get worse for you."

The woman smiled, her wandering hands feeling Jungkook's torso slowly, pulling the ropes slightly.

"What do you think, Jungkook?" she asked playfully. "Should I let you go?"

"Please do," he pleaded, in the same lamenting voice he spoke to Namjoon, but exaggerated to the degree that made it sound like _mockery_.

Namjoon stopped breathing.

The woman chuckled, proceeding to untie Jungkook. When he took the blindfold off himself, the look of his eyes was painfully familiar to Namjoon.

He looked stunningly like his father.

Jungkook laughed as soon as his and Namjoon's eyes met. His voice was followed by loud laughter and even a short round of applause from the audience scattered all over the room. None of them were afraid of the police.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the little show I've put up," Jungkook said as he stood up. "Now, we can turn the light on."

Namjoon refused to believe. When the light was on, he had a couple of seconds to scan the room and figure out a feasible plan. He expected to see a lot more clan people around than he actually saw, so if they acted—

When he turned back to look over his people, he realized he didn't stand a chance.

Kim Namjoon wasn't a sociable person. He fully dedicated his life to solving crimes, which resulted in him being unable to form real friendships. He barely knew the policemen he worked with. This only made it easier for them to betray him.

"No," Namjoon gasped, when he found himself surrounded by his own men. "You're not like your father," he appealed to Jungkook, who already jumped off the stage and came closer to him. "You're better than that. You're-"

"You're right, Namjoon," Jungkook said, facing him. "I'm not like my father, no. I'm just-" he paused, a sly smirk touching his lips, before spitting the last word in the policeman's face, " _better_."

Jeon Jungkook gave a sign to the bribed cops, they bent Namjoon's arms behind his back and handcuffed him. He was so shocked he barely resisted.

"Kim Namjoon, you're charged with false accusations and deliberate obstruction of police investigation," said the policeman who handcuffed him. "You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law."

The words were followed by another round of laughter from the audience. Finally, one of the cops proceeded to drag Namjoon out of the room. Just when Namjoon thought this was over, Jungkook suddenly told them to stop.

"Let me enjoy a moment with the man who made me an orphan," he said, making the whole building go quiet from the mere mention of the man who was Jungkook's father.

The young man approached Namjoon, let a second of silence between them sink. He made a few steps back and hit him in the face.

The punch was unbelievably hard and — which is worse — carefully calculated. Namjoon howled as he fell on his knees.

"You thought I didn't know who murdered him?" Jungkook growled at him, relishing the moment. "How did you _dare_ look me in the eye?"

"He was a psycho serial killer," the policeman responded, trying to ignore the metallic taste of blood when he spoke, while also realizing he was missing a tooth.

"I had a better opinion of you," Jungkook said coldly, suddenly becoming calm again. "Brave enough to kill my father, yet not brave enough to tell his son about it... What does it tell us about Kim Namjoon?" he pondered out loud, as if asking the audience, turning everything into his show again. "A lousy coward? Maybe, a wise man? Or... could he be both?"

"I was stupid enough to believe you," Namjoon muttered.

" _You think you have a right to judge me_ ," he snarled and kicked the man in the stomach. "You are— _disgusting_."

An unleashed wild animal that once was Jeon Jungkook hovered above Namjoon.

"You will rot in a cell untill you die, and I will make _sure_ you live long and suffer _every single instant_ ," Jungkook rasped. "You will _beg_ me to kill you. No matter what you do, who you talk to, what you say, _nothing_ will happen. I want you to remember that. I want that to echo in your head before you die. Do you remember?" he paused, a devilish grin emerging on his lips. "What does the seagull do?"

After that question, the silence in the room became deafening. The clan people exchanged uneasy looks. Many glanced at Yoongi, expecting a reaction, but his face was still, showing just a bit of curiosity, not enough to call it concern. Kim Taehyung, who sat next to the clan leader, looked noticeably surprised and rather irritated.

" _What does the seagull do_?" Jungkook repeated the infamous Seagull's signature question through his teeth.

"Seagull oversees," Namjoon wheezed out, barely managing to pronounce the two words coherently.

Jungkook clicked his tongue impatiently.

" _Louder_. I can't hear you."

"Seagull oversees," the man cried, as loud as he could, before losing his consciousness.

Everything up until Namjoon woke up in a cell was a blur.


	13. Power

When Hwasa came to Yoongi's place, an hour after receiving Kim Seokjin's request, it was a couple of minutes past midnight.

Yoongi waited for her lounged on his living room couch. The man didn't have his Rolex on and smelled of his favorite whiskey. Apparently, since he got so comfortable already, he didn't expect anything significant to happen tonight.

Habitually, Hwasa sank into the couch next to him.

"I haven't seen you around for a while," Yoongi said absentmindedly.

"I've been busy."

"Oh?" he smiled sweetly. "Busy?"

"Getting you the information you want," she replied, a bit cooler than usual.

"And what is the information I want?" the man purred, assuming Hwasa's cold attitude was just a little tease.

When Yoongi was genuinely aroused, he could not function properly. He couldn't hear the serious undertones in Hwasa's voice, couldn't see the weariness starting to show on her face. He thought this was just a game and not a matter for serious discussion.

"Kim Seokjin asked us to find dirt on Jeon Jungkook, which I'm able to provide."

"Excellent," he whispered, his fingers entangling her hair.

"We can turn this situation into something that will destroy Hope," Hwasa asserted firmly, to make him understand the whole scale of the matter.

Yoongi smiled, "I'm all ears."

"I want you to let Hope have Jungkook's information. Let him know you let him have it. Make him think you planned a trap. Make him think he figured your trap out. Then, bite him."

"Sounds so tempting when you say it," he murmured.

He still wasn't taking her seriously.

"The boy is a Seagull," Hwasa said sharply.

All the amusement washed off Yoongi's face instantly.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Rumors."

Yoongi put a strand of hair behind her ear, his eyes studying Hwasa's face attentively.

"People talk about Seagull's son still being alive, but they don't talk about Jeon Jungkook being one."

"He keeps all his real info on a memory card. His real birth certificate. Their family pictures, videos... I saw all of that."

"You slept with him?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes.

"I'm his backup dancer. It wasn't too hard to get to his stuff."

"His backup dancer?" he raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

"I have several side jobs. Helps me get more detailed information."

Yoongi stared at her face silently for a moment. He finally realized Hwasa was proposing a plan.

"You're saying I should let Hope have the memory card with—"

"Taehyung will steal it from them before they see it. Don't tell him about this, and he'll distract Hope when trying to figure everything out. Also—"

"Do you understand—"

"He is a Seagull, but he's weak," the woman cut him off firmly. "His family history is enough to revive the clan, but he won't do the job. He's an idol, not a mafia boss. After he gets the revenge for his father's death, Seagull's power will be all ours."

"Ours," the sweet smile touched Yoongi's lips again. "I always admired your confidence."

When Hwasa met his eyes, she knew she already convinced him.

When Taehyung shut the door behind him, rushing to get Jungkook's memory card from Seokjin, Yoongi and Hwasa remained silent for a minute. Eventually, the man gestured to the woman to take a seat next to him, as they would normally talk.

"It's the first time Taehyung ever went against me like that," Yoongi said, noticeably impressed. "And you managed to predict that."

"Mafia men can be very predictable," she replied, smiling bleakly.

"Am I as predictable to you?" he asked, tracing the outline of her bare shoulder with his index finger.

"It's predictable to want to feel special."

"And what do you want, Hwasa? What's your interest in all this?"

"Same as yours," she replied. "Power."

"Over whom?" he asked. "Me? The whole Sugar? Over Hope and Seagull?"

"You are a good start," Hwasa smiled.

"Do it, then," he whispered, taking her hand in his, proceeding to slowly unbutton his shirt.

This was the first time Yoongi acted so bluntly. As the excitement from the imminent victory over Hope rushed through his blood, he assumed Hwasa felt equally thrilled. He leaned towards her for a kiss, but she turned away.

They both knew Yoongi could still make it happen if he wanted. That wouldn't be much different from what she did routinely at her job. The man, however, stopped, a puzzled look on his face.

"I love you, in my sick way," Hwasa brushed her hand softly against the fabric of his shirt, then buttoned it back. "But I will never forgive you."

Min Yoongi looked bewildered.

"You're punishing me for what your life has become, aren't you?"

"How would that be a punishment for you?"

"I'm not getting what I want."

"If sex is what you want, I'm a fucking hooker," she blurted out. "If you want affection, I just admitted that I love you. The only thing you're not getting is me pretending I don't feel sick."

Yoongi kept silent for a minute.

"You want to keep things as they were?" he asked eventually.

"Everything will be different soon."

"Yes, but— What, you want to have a normal life all of a sudden?"

"Not so sudden to me."

The man looked at Hwasa, as if he had never seen her before.

"After we're done with Hope, you want to quit?"

The woman smiled at Yoongi — fondly, yet bitterly.

"Yes."


	14. Misestimation

It was only 6 in the morning, but the club was full of people when Taehyung entered it. As he walked through the lounge towards Yoongi's favorite table, he noticed most of the important clan faces.

_It was as if they all knew what was happening._

Taehyung was already suspecting something as he walked, then he saw confirmation in Yoongi's seemingly blank, yet focused gaze. He knew everything when he finally approached the table, where three people, instead of the expected two, were seated.

Jungkook stared Taehyung down openly, knowing the man had just seen the contents of his memory card. He grinned at him slyly, well-aware of how humiliating this was to Taehyung, who wasn't yet able to hide his astonishment.

There was little left of the nation's angel boy Jeon Jungkook in the young man in a loose black T-shirt, worn purposefully to reveal his muscular arms and the edges of the wing tattoos covering their upper part. Taehyung hated to admit it, but he was terrified of the drastic contrast between Jungkook's usual bland, innocent image and what he resembled now — a sinister, cheeky reincarnation of the most feared figure in the Asian mafia history.

"I think our friend doesn't need an explanation at this point, does he?" Jungkook beamed, almost innocently, as if to intentionally create an even more grotesque picture of himself. He smelled fear, and he enjoyed knowing he was the one causing it.

Taehyung exchanged looks with Yoongi, deadpan.

"No," Taehyung replied. "I think I've figured everything out."

The next moment, an old man, strange to Taehyung, approached their table and told Jungkook that the cops would be here in five minutes.

_He has former Seagull people at his back._

"Should we get everything ready now?" the old man asked.

"Uh-huh," Jungkook stood up, glancing over the room. "There's a few things I want fixed, though."

He paid more attention to the way a chair was positioned on the stage than to Taehyung's appearance. He barely noticed one of the most important figures in the Seoul mafia, as he was busy instructing their men on the lighting he wanted.

"Do you mind helping me, Hwasa?" Jungkook smiled.

"Not at all," she returned the smile and joined him.

Jungkook openly acted like the one in charge, receiving messages and giving orders. Yoongi did nothing about it.

"What's our plan, Yoongi?" Taehyung whispered, as soon as they were alone. "Do you have one?"

"He kills the cop, we kill Hope," he responded emotionlessly.

"And?" Taehyung raised his eyebrow. "What happens to the fucking Seagull junior?"

"He's not Seagull junior," Yoongi exhaled annoyingly. "He's an emotionally unstable boy with daddy issues."

Taehyung bit his lip, apprehensive.

Min Yoongi must be right.

The apprehension grew into dread when Taehyung saw Jungkook — the real Jungkook — in action. The sense of fear permeating the room full of mafia during Jungkook's "show" was so strong that Taehyung, like most people present, felt like admiring him for it. With years of mafia experience behind his back, he, for the first time, felt like a child observing a cold-blooded evil genius.

Of course, Yoongi was also a genius. He could be cold-blooded as well, but he was never evil.

What Jeon Jungkook did, mentally, to the poor cop was pure evil. Everyone in the room knew the policeman was what was considered "a decent human being", who killed Seagull because he was a clan leader and not because Namjoon wanted to kill him. No one would have anything against Jungkook killing or torturing the cop out of revenge, but everyone started feeling uneasy when the young man began acting as if he genuinely believed agonizing Kim Namjoon was a righteous act.

It seemed like Jeon Jungkook inherited his father's bizarre sickness. He was a cinematic villain capable of making people admire him for his spectacular cruelty and follow him blindly.

Taehyung knew Yoongi well enough to notice that he was, deep inside, worried. He reached for his hand, but the man waved him away, irritated.

_Is Yoongi actually in control of what's going on? Or is he only trying to seem like he is?_

Kim Namjoon had already stopped grunting a while ago, when another strange man — a Seagull man — whispered something in Jungkook's ear. The young man responded, obviously giving an instruction. There was a visible commotion happening at the lounge door. Only half a minute later Min Yoongi was notified that Park Jimin was captured.

This was extremely alarming. Min Yoongi, for 30 seconds, didn't know what was happening.

Jeon Jungkook wiped Namjoon's blood off his blushed face and smiled radiantly. The smile was so bright it was toxic, repulsive, yet so irresistibly, bizarrely attractive.

The bribed cops dragged Namjoon out of the room; in a couple of minutes, Park Jimin replaced him.

It pained Taehyung to see Jimin, the man he genuinely respected as one of the most accomplished ones in the Seoul mafia, break down so miserably. Shock incapacitated him. Jungkook eagerly dived into another show of his, inciting another round of applause.

Min Yoongi wasn't as captivated by Jungkook's performance as the majority of people present.

"I need to know Jung Hoseok's whereabouts," he told Taehyung. "Jimin could've told him something, so we have to act fast."

A terrifying thought flashed in Kim Taehyung's mind: Min Yoongi didn't know anything.

Taehyung stood up, then walked in the direction of the club's back door.

Just as Jeon Jungkook was in the middle of his violent frenzy, abusing Park Jimin both physically and mentally, he suddenly froze, his face momentarily switching back to stillness. He spotted Taehyung, who was attempting to leave, in the crowd.

"Is my show boring you?" the young man asked.

The room went dead silent.

"I need to catch up with a more important business," Taehyung replied coldly.

"I love important businesses," he grinned. "Do you mind sharing?"

"The important business right now would be getting Jung Hoseok, instead of wasting time with his subordinate."

"Oh, that would be wasteful," Jungkook said with a mocking pout. "Since his own men are already doing the job for us."

Taehyung, same as almost everyone in the room, didn't process the information right away.

"I was a little too carried away to mention that Jung Hoseok was captured when trying to flee the country," Jungkook continued. "If you considered watching till the end, you would see for yourself."

Taehyung didn't let himself look at Yoongi. He could make a fool of himself, but he couldn't allow Min Yoongi to look like one. If Sugar realize their leader is clueless, they will turn their backs on him, like Hope did to Hoseok.

Taehyung must make it look like Yoongi was still in control of Jungkook.

He looked at Hwasa, who sat at the bar. Her face was carefree, if not contented, as she observed Jungkook go on with his rant on Hope's misery.

Was she the first one to turn her back on Min Yoongi?

_And she called_ me _a backstabber._

Another couple of minutes passed, when, as Jungkook promised, Jung Hoseok was dragged into the room for public humiliation. Taehyung couldn't believe his own eyes. The only man who could match Seagull was now being destroyed by his son.

Min Yoongi stood up and walked towards Jungkook to get a closer look.

"Daddy would love to see this," the young man beamed. " Not that you ever mattered, though," he returned to his theatrical tone. "You boys think you're on top of the world, you think you're big bosses, you even think you can rap," Jungkook sneered. "When, in reality, you're just making the same fatal mistake that haunts everyone in the mafia — misestimation. You overestimated yourself and underestimated me," he declared in a conclusive tone, then turned to Yoongi, "Do whatever you want with him, I don't care."

Jungkook's speech was more than disrespectful. No one would dare say things like that in Min Yoongi's presence. The man, however, pretended Jungkook's words were directed solely at Hoseok.

Without losing his still image, Yoongi ordered his men to put Hoseok in the basement for now. When, for a brief moment, their eyes met, Hoseok broke into laughter.

"He's gonna kill us both, you know it," he mouthed, barely audible.

Min Yoongi ignored him. Eyeing Jungkook, who was casually having a drink with a mixed crowd of Sugar, Hope, and Seagull, he quickly gathered his trusted men to get information on the state of former Hope people.

Everything went almost as planned. Jungkook's behavior was an unexpected occurrence, but Hope was still destroyed. Seagull's son, with his eerie charms, could be a powerful ally to Sugar.

Min Yoongi had almost restored his confidence, when he met another pair of eyes at the bar, next to where Jungkook was standing. Hwasa was in the crowd, drinking and giggling at something.

"I want to speak with you in private," he said, as he approached her.

The woman exchanged looks with Jungkook. He didn't care. She then nodded at Yoongi.

At that moment, the man didn't even have to talk to Hwasa anymore.

He knew.


	15. The Winning Side

As soon as the door of Yoongi's private room closed behind him and Hwasa, he took a deep breath.

"So this is how you're punishing me," he said, without looking at her, searching the shelves for alcohol.

Hwasa sat on a couch beside Yoongi's desk and said nothing.

"Switching sides like that— that's pretty impressive. I assume you think it's over for me?"

"Yes," she replied, emotionless.

"Oof," Yoongi exhaled. "Was destroying Sugar your initial intention?"

"Yes."

Yoongi took a sip from the glass he just filled with whiskey.

"I understand your motivation to some extent, but— How is Jungkook better than me? You think he'll be less of a son of a bitch and stop prostitution all of a sudden? Set you all free?"

Hwasa remained silent.

"I hate you, Hwasa. Or admire you. Either one, for sure," the man chuckled. "You saved my life more than once, for God's sake, with this in mind..." he pondered aloud, until he noticed the unbothered look on Hwasa's face. "I'm no longer interesting to you, am I? Jungkook must be, for one, much more entertaining—"

"Are you done?" she cut him off coolly.

They looked at each other silently.

"Yes," Yoongi then nodded, his face still. "You can go."

Hwasa left the room without saying another word.

Formally, the Sugar clan still remained, as an ally of the revived Seagull clan, but practically, Min Yoongi was losing his power every single day. The only thing he could do was wait until one of his people questioned his authority first. After that, it would be all over for Min Yoongi.

Following his infamous father's footsteps, Jeon Jungkook was soon to reclaim the title of the most powerful man in Asia.

...Hwasa knew she had to act quickly; this could be her last day on the job, or even her last day alive.

Jungkook always wore long sleeves at practices, which made it obvious that he was hiding something. It almost felt like the young man didn't care if his staff knew he had a tattoo, he just didn't want anyone to see what kind of tattoo he had.

A few weeks passed when Hwasa finally had an opportunity to see it, when he wore a white shirt. She purposefully spilled some water on him after practice was over, then acted surprised and guilty enough not to get fired by her superiors instantly.

Jungkook looked startled, disorientated, almost panicking. Before he left the practice room, Hwasa caught a glimpse of his facial expression. She didn't expect to see a perfectly still pair of eyes. The look of his eyes was so still, in fact, that it almost seemed... angry.

That was when three major realizations came to Hwasa at once.

Jungkook had wings tattooed on his upper arms. He acted discombobulated, when, in reality, he was as composed as ever. Finally, he always wore a peculiar necklace with a bird as a pendant.

Hwasa could be wrong in her suspicion, but even if a slightest chance of it being true existed, she couldn't miss it.

She knocked on his dressing room door.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened today," she smiled innocently, as she opened the door herself.

"Oh, it's all fine, forget about it," Jungkook smiled timidly in return, as he stood up and bowed his head slightly.

Hwasa could've just been imagining things, but his casual good-natured, boyish behavior seemed unbearably fake to her now.

"That's a pretty necklace," she remarked, risking it all.

"Thanks," he beamed.

_Will he smile as brightly when he tells his people he wants me dead?_

Hwasa closed the door behind her and moved forward, shortening the distance between them. Jungkook gaped at her, looking confused.

"I know who you are," Hwasa breathed, looking him in the eye.

"Um—" he chuckled awkwardly. "I mean—"

"I am a Sugar," she said.

"What? I— Did I hear you correctly?"

Hwasa got inappropriately close to Jungkook. He didn't push her away.

"I'm one of the closest to Min Yoongi himself," she whispered. "I want to help you, so I can get out."

Jungkook remained silent, his face blank.

"I'll tell you everything I know. I _want_ to help you because I know you're on the winning side."

The young man's expression changed. It was hard to identify because it was so alien to Jungkook's usual look.

"You think you can help _me_?" he asked in a low voice with a clear cheeky note.

Hwasa's heart skipped a beat. She didn't expect Jungkook to hide so much of his personality. She had to adapt to the circumstances quickly.

"I know you kill everyone who finds out, but I think you'll find me useful," Hwasa murmured, pressing her hand against the young man's torso, taking another risk. "I'll try really hard to make myself useful."

"Сonvince me," he said smugly.

"I can think of a more elegant way for you to enter the game," Hwasa continued, her hand beginning to unbuckle his belt. "I'll tell you everything I know."

"You won't be able to do that right now, will you?" he smirked, helping her get rid of the belt.

Hwasa did tell him everything she knew later that night. Only having done that could she prove her loyalty to Seagull.

She told Jungkook how she found him: as a result of a sequence of pure accidents.

The first one happened two years ago, when Kim Taehyung and his people found two Hope men fighting on the street. One of them recognized Taehyung. He cried out something incoherent, obviously trying to tell him something important, but was shot dead that very moment by the other man.

Sugar captured him. Yoongi ordered to find out what the two Hope men were hiding. The man was tortured and accidentally killed in the process.

"The boy," was the only and last thing he said when he died.

Everyone suspected it was connected to the rumors of Seagull's son being alive, but no one dared discussing the probability of that being true openly.

About a year later, Hwasa overheard a former member of some other clan, who came to a known Sugar bar to reminisce about the old times. He was very old and drunk, but sounded sensible.

"What's really important must never be digital. As soon as they have it on a computer, it's gone, you can't control it."

No one paid much attention to his rant. For the people present, he was just a senile old man.

"That's what happens, it happens all the time... " the man rambled. "None of that stuff should've been put on a memory card, people will keep finding out..."

"What about?" Hwasa asked.

"Eh, I'm not gonna tell you," he chortled. "They'll kill me anyways, but I owe my life to him."

"Is it... Seagull you're talking about?" Hwasa lowered her voice.

The man sobered up instantly.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Nobody," Hwasa answered simply. "I'm just curious."

"You'll know when you see him," he mouthed, already standing up to leave. "You'll know."

Hwasa asked Yoongi to find the old man who visited the bar the following day. Sugar found him shot.

Finally, several months after the incident, Hwasa became Jeon Jungkook's backup dancer to earn some extra money finding out whether the gossip about him getting a tattoo was real.

During the first couple of weeks working for Seagull, Hwasa was terrified of Jeon Jungkook. He was unpredictable. One day, he would call her "Sugar girl" coldly and treat her condescendingly, making Hwasa think she was on Seagull's death list, and then turn to her for advice and reassurance the other day. Hwasa felt constantly under a threat. Every time Jungkook would open up to her, she prepared herself for her last day alive.

However, two months later, when Hwasa helped Seagull recruit a few dozen more people, Jungkook obviously warmed up to her, in a way an experienced mafia boss would never allow himself to. The young man seemed to stop questioning her loyalty. He called her "Sugar girl" only when he knew Hwasa met with or spoke to Min Yoongi.

Hwasa learned that even though Jeon Jungkook wasn't the innocent angel boy people knew him for, he was still a boy. A clever, authoritative, sadistic, impulsive, impressionable boy, who was also jealous.

"...I'll tell him you're not a threat, and he won't do anything until you have both Hope and Sugar, and then it'll be too late anyway."

Hwasa, as she intended, presented her plan to him when he was most vulnerable — in bed, naked, post-climax.

"Why does he trust you so much?" Jungkook turned to his side to face Hwasa, revealing the chiseled outline of his oblique muscles.

"I've worked for him for a long time," she answered simply.

"Nah," he grinned, somewhat ominously, as he brushed his hand against her jawline. "You tell him what you tell me, Sugar girl. You shameless little liar."

"I tell him what he needs to hear," she responded. "You know which side I'm on."

"Do I, though?" he whispered, leaning closer, his inflamed dove-like eyes fixed on hers.

"The winning side," Hwasa smirked, before her breath got lost in Jungkook's soft lips.

He was a clever, authoritative, sadistic, impulsive, _impressionable boy_.


	16. The Promotion

"Officer? Officer Kim?"

Namjoon woke up at an unfamiliar location, in darkness, to an unfamiliar voice.

He was relieved not to see Jungkook's face anywhere around him. Instead, he recognised a colleague of his — one of the bribed policemen who broke into the Sugar's nightclub with him.

"Where am I?" Namjoon breathed.

"In a dungeon, obviously," the man responded. "I brought you something to eat."

Namjoon couldn't think straight because of the pain crippling his whole body.

"Wh- I—"

"We'll talk everything out later. You need to recover first."

He sounded sympathetic.

"Why— What time is it? I can't see—"

"Later, officer. You must rest."

The man left, closing what sounded like a heavy metallic door behind him, and Namjoon started to process everything that had happened in the last couple of days.

Kim Namjoon wept, like a child.

Jeon Jungkook wore a black jacket with no shirt underneath, taking pride in his freshly inked tattoos. He sat back on his favorite couch, his feet, glossy black leather shoes on, on the glass coffee table. Only Hwasa was allowed to sit near him on his couch. The spot was empty — she was running late.

Jungkook turned Hwasa's club into his personal madness arena. Almost every other night he wanted a new person brought to him to humiliate and butcher in front of the growing audience of his followers.

Tonight was the night between Jungkook's regular violent escapades. Such nights, he would gather his favorites in the club's lounge and let them entertain him with news stories. His favorite ones were the mafia world stories of other clans losing everything to the Seagull.

Jungkook clicked his tongue impatiently when Hwasa entered the club's lounge.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"Running errands."

"Sweet," Jungkook chuckled as she sat down next to him. "Have you heard? A bunch of old Hopes tried to gather up and attack us."

"And? All of them dead?"

"Yep. I killed a couple of them myself," he smirked, then lowered his voice and continued even closer to Hwasa's face, as if leaning for a kiss. "I'm getting better at this. I wish you'd seen me when—"

Suddenly, two men — a former Sugar and a Seagull — entered the lounge. One of them spoke abruptly, "I don't want to interrupt—"

"Well, you just did," Jungkook groaned, withdrawing from Hwasa. "Go on now."

The two men exchanged worried looks.

"Kim Namjoon escaped from his cell," the former Sugar blurted out.

Jungkook's jaw muscles tensed.

"He did what?" he asked, coolly.

"He got out, but he couldn't have gone far—"

Jungkook kicked the coffee table with his glossy shoe. The glass shuttered to shards, and the room fell silent for a moment.

"How the _fuck_ did that happen?" he bellowed, piercing the silence.

"We don't know yet—"

"Then fucking find out!" Jungkook roared and punched the back of his couch, then clenched his teeth and muttered, "Find Min Yoongi and get him here _now._ "

"I'll get him," Hwasa stood up, just fast enough to escape Jungkook's grip.

"Not you," he growled. "Sit down."

Hwasa didn't listen.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Jungkook shrilled.

Hwasa ignored the question and escaped the lounge.

Gradually, it became obvious: the only surviving mafia clan in Seoul was the Seagull. Mafia men from other clans flocked to pledge loyalty to Jeon Jungkook, while Yoongi disappeared from the public eye. Some expected the Sugar leader to come back strong as ever, with a plan to undermine Jungkook's power; the rest already switched sides and joined the Seagull.

Meanwhile, Yoongi was spending his time on his new daily routine, drinking.

Hwasa hasn't seen him since their last conversation in this same room. She found Yoongi lying on the sofa near his desk, with a nearly emptied bottle of alcohol in his hand, his eyes drowsy, as if he's just woken up from a dream. If not for the fresh white shirt he wore, she would've thought he'd never left his study at all. The fresh shirt, however, spoke louder than the stagnant smell of whiskey. Hwasa was happy to see that inside this defeated mafia don still lived the lively spirit of Min Yoongi.

"What's happening?" he asked lazily. "I think I've heard glass breaking."

"Namjoon got out," Hwasa responded.

"Kim Namjoon?" Yoongi frowned. "The policeman? Wh- Is he here?"

"Not yet."

Yoongi sat up. He looked at Hwasa, as if he hadn't seen her before, or as if he only now recognised who she was.

"Hwasa? Fuck," he winced, as if from a terrible headache. "You've been playing all of us, haven't you?"

Hwasa kept silent, waiting for him to continue. Yoongi stood up, finishing the bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"Hope, Sugar, _and_ Seagull," he breathed, his other hand on his forehead. "Holy shit."

She didn't respond. They looked at each other. The answer was obvious.

"You were with Kim Namjoon from the very beginning?"

"No," Hwasa answered finally. "I figured everything on the go when I found out about Jungkook. I met Namjoon backstage at the stadium."

"The cops will be here in a while?"

"They're coming already."

Yoongi smiled and shook his head in disbelief, awe, and amusement.

"I should've given you a real promotion back then," he chuckled, a bit nervously, putting the emptied bottle on his desk. "What an idiot. What an absolute—"

"I wish things were different," she cut him off softly.

"I don't," Yoongi responded with a warm smile. "You wouldn't love me if they were."

Just as he said these words, they heard a loud thud, followed by a series of gunshots.

Hwasa walked across the room towards Yoongi. Up close, he almost seemed scared of her, like he should've been on the day they first met. She kissed him, for the second and last time ever. He smiled bitterly into the kiss, knowing she kissed him goodbye.

Hwasa looked him in the eye one last time before walking out of the room. When she opened the door, Yoongi heard the police sirens. He reached for a new bottle of whiskey and poured himself a glass.

Min Yoongi offered no resistance when Kim Namjoon's team broke into his study.

When they walked him, handcuffed, through the club's hall, he saw Jungkook held against the floor by two policemen. Just before leaving the club, Yoongi passed by Kim Namjoon's stately figure.

He was crossing one of the club's hallways towards the woman who ended the mafia.


End file.
